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Show How Lincoln Stopped Criticisms. General Porter contributes an interest-paper interest-paper on "Lincoln and Grant", to The Century for Octcber, ' from which we quote the following anecdote : "Grant's successes brought with them the usual number of jealousies and rivalries. rival-ries. Political generals had their advocates advo-cates in Washington to plead their cause, while Grant stood without friends at court. His detractors gathered at times great deal of strength in their efforts to 1 supplant him with a general of their own choosing and Lincoln was beset by many a delegation who insisted that nothing would harmonize matters in the West but Grant's removal. This nagging continued con-tinued evenafter his great triumph at Yicksburg. " "Lincoln always enjoyed telling the General, after the two had become personally per-sonally intimate, how the cross-roads wiseacres had criticised his campaigns. One dav, after dwelling for some time on this subject, he said to Grant: 'After Vicksburg I thought it was about time to shut down on this sort of thing. So one day, when a' delegation came to see me and had spent half an hour trying to show me the fatal mistake you had made in paroling Pemberton's army, and insisting that the rebels would violate their paroles and in less than a month confront you again in the ranks, and have to be whipped whip-ped over again, I thought I should get rid tf them best bv telling them a story about Sykes's dog. '"Have you ever heard about Sykes's yellow dog?" said I to the spokesman of the delegation, ne said he hadn't. "Well, I must tell you about him," eaid I. "Sykes had a yellow yel-low dog he set great store by, but there were a lot of small boys around the village, vil-lage, and that's always a bad thing for dogs, you know. These boys didn't share Sykes's views, and they were not disposed to let the.doa: have a fair show. Even Sykes had to admit that the dog was getting unpopular; in fact it was soon Been that a prejudice was growing up against that dog that threatened to wreck all his future prospects in life. The boys, after meditating how to get the best of him, finally fixed up a cartridge with a long fuse, put the cartridge in a piece of meat, dropped the meat in the road in the -front" of Sykes's door, and then perched themselves on a fence a good distance off with the end of the fuse in their hands.. Then they whistled for the dog. When he came out he scented the bait, and bolted the meat, cartridge and all. The boys touched off the fuse with a cigar, and in about a second a report re-port came from that dog that sounded lika a small clap of thunder. Sykes came bouncine out of the house, and yelled: """VYhat'supl Anything busted?' "'"There was no reply except a snick from the small boys roosting on the fence, but as Sykes looked up he saw the whole air filled with pieces of yellow dog. He picked up the biggest piece he could find, a portion of the back with a part of the tail still hanging to it, and after turning turn-ing it around and looking it all over he said, 'Well, I guess he'll never be much account again as a dog.' And I guess Pemberton's forces will never be much account again as an army." ' " ' "'The delegation began looking around for their hats before I had quite got to the end of the story,- and I was never bothered after that about superseding the commander com-mander of the Army of the Tennessee. :' ' V:-- . . ' |